The actresses, who star in HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” developed a tight friendship after playing “sort-of awful people” and then mother and daughter.

A mutual friend introduced Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern in front of a restaurant in the Brentwood Country Mart complex in Santa Monica, Calif. They were already aware of each other; it was 2011, and both were movie stars of many years. They had also each played antiheroines in back-to-back late-1990s Alexander Payne films to unforgettable effect: Ms. Dern as Ruth Stoops in “Citizen Ruth” and Ms. Witherspoon as Tracy Flick in “Election.” But it was merely a quick hello.

They reunited in 2014 to play mother and daughter in “Wild,” a film based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir that garnered them both Oscar nominations. A friendship blossomed quickly — playing family, as luck would have it, made them so. They now star (and spar) as rival Monterey power mothers in the new HBO mini-series “Big Little Lies,” of which Ms. Witherspoon is also an executive producer.

Speaking by telephone and email, Ms. Witherspoon and Ms. Dern talked about their fast-tracked friendship, multiple collaborations and conversations with their mothers (Ms. Dern’s is the actress Diane Ladd). This conversation has been edited and condensed.

REESE WITHERSPOON I was with Howell outside a restaurant. Howell Caldwell’s our friend who’s a first assistant director, who’d worked with Laura, and he’s this big, funny guy from Texas, and he’s like: “You gotta meet Laura Dern. You’re gonna love her, you’re gonna love her mom.” Her mom is, like, the quintessential Southern mom, and I have a real Southern mother, too. He said, “You guys are gonna be best friends.” And I remember thinking: “Could I be best friends with her? I don’t know.”

Noah Hawley, who followed his Emmy-winning minseries Fargo by creating the FX drama Legion, has set a pair of films at Fox Searchlight. Top of the list is Pale Blue Dot, a sci-fi project that has Reese Witherspoon starring. Set up as a spec by Brian C Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi, Pale Blue Dot tells the story of a female astronaut who, upon returning to Earth from a mission in space, begins to slowly unravel and lose touch with reality. Witherspoon will produce with Bruna Papandrea.

Through his production company 26 Keys, Hawley is also developing with Searchlight Buried Bodies, the working title of a drama inspired by the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case from the mid-1970s. Attorneys Frank Armani and Francis Belge faced the ethical dilemma of upholding attorney-client privilege after their client, accused murderer Robert Garrow, revealed to them the location of the bodies of two additional missing girls. The lawyers verified the findings, but did not report them to police, even though one of the lawyers had a daughter who was a classmate of sisters of one of the murdered girls. The lawyers only divulged information after the killer escaped prison and threatened one of the attorneys. The pair was reviled by the families of the victims and ostracized by the community for their agonizing commitment to their oath. Hawley is repped by CAA.

Women entrepreneurs from technology, fashion, media, and other industries will talk about why they started their companies, how they built their businesses, and the lessons they’ve learned as part of Vanity Fair’s first Founders Fair conference.

Confirmed speakers include actor and producer Reese Witherspoon, who also is the founder of lifestyle brand Draper James and media company Hello Sunshine; Kirsten Green, founder, Forerunner Ventures; Julie Wainwright, founder of C.E.O. of the RealReal; Julie Deane, founder and C.E.O. of Cambridge Satchel Co.; and Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, co-founders and co-C.E.O.s of theSkimm. The conference will conclude with Tory Burch, C.E.O. and creative director, Tory Burch LLC, in conversation with Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter.

The conference takes place on April 20 at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, New York, and is presented by Condé Nast.

Former Google executives-turned-entrepreneurs Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan (C.E.O. and founder of Drawbridge) and Stephanie Tilenius (C.E.O. and founder of Vida Health) will talk about how the search giant prepared them—and didn’t—to launch their businesses. Cindy Whitehead, who sold Sprout Pharmaceuticals to Valeant for $1 billion, will share the pros and cons of selling a business. And Saturday Night Live’s Sasheer Zamata and Jennifer Danielson, president of Lorne Michaels’ Above Average Productions, will discuss how digital platforms have enabled a new generation of female artists to become media entrepreneurs.

The conference will also feature serial entrepreneurs such as Nancy Lublin, founder of Crisis Text Line and Dress for Success; Caterina Fake, who co-founded Flickr and Hunch, and founded Findery and StorySet; and Gina Bianchini, who co-founded Ning with Marc Andreessen before launching Mightybell. Additional speakers will be announced soon.

Founders Fair grew from the stories of entrepreneurs who’ve spoken at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, now entering its fourth year.

The New York Times interviewed Nicole Kidman to promote Big Little Lies, and it features several mentions of Reese and the development and production of the show; here are the Reese-related snippets:

How Nicole Kidman Puts Women First in Hollywood

[…]

It makes sense that “Big Little Lies” became a series on HBO rather than a feature film at a major studio. As superhero and other tentpole movies dominate the release schedules of the major studios, even bona fide movie stars like Natalie Portman, Daniel Craig and Bradley Cooper are bringing their projects to places like HBO, Showtime, Amazon and Netflix.

“There’s not as much of a separation anymore,” Ms. Witherspoon said in a telephone interview. “There’s a bigger pool to work in, the talent base is much broader than it used to be, and it’s become sort of a blur — what is television, what is a movie?”

Just two and a half years elapsed between conception to finished project. In the spring of 2014, Bruna Pappandrea, Ms. Witherspoon’s former partner in her production company (Pacific Standard), who is also friends with Ms. Kidman, read a galley of “Big Little Lies,” thought it was great and called Ms. Witherspoon, who was in New Orleans shooting “Hot Pursuit.” Entranced by the book, Ms. Witherspoon got Ms. Kidman, an old friend, to read it, too.

Ms. Kidman said she was drawn in by the many moods of the book, by its strong female characters, and that “as much as it’s about women who are feuding, who are trying to destroy one another, it’s also about friendships.” (The character she plays, Celeste, seems to have a perfect life, including a hunky younger husband played by Alexander Skarsgard, but it’s a facade that begins to peel away as the series goes on.)

She called Ms. Witherspoon back. “I said, ‘I’m in if you’re in,’” Ms. Kidman recalled. “And she said, ‘I’m in. Now all we have to do is get it.’” That meant persuading the author, Ms. Moriarty, at home in Australia, to sell them the exclusive rights.

Ms. Kidman was on her way there for a vacation, and she and Ms. Moriarty met in a coffee shop in Sydney. Ms. Moriarty said she had not expected much from the meeting. “I’ve had other books optioned before, and other authors have said, ‘Never get too excited until the day they start shooting,’” she said by telephone. “And Nicole said, ‘If I option it, get excited because I don’t just option things for the sake of it.’”

Reese attended the red carpet premiere of Big Little Lies in LA yesterday! Reese bought her daughter Ava along for the event, and the twosome posed together on the red carpet … Reese was also snapped with her co-stars Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz. She looked gorgeous and elegant in a dress by Elie Saab, with jewellry from Tiffany’s and Christian Louboutin shoes – I love this shimmery look on her! The Gallery has been updated with over 300 HQ photos from the premiere and after-party, and this post will be updated tomorrow with articles & videos from the red carpet…

The Gallery has been updated with scans from Reese’s recent magazine covers/spreads, including Vanity Fair, Variety and Elle. In addition, she is on the cover of the new issue of People Style Watch – it’s just a basic page on her inside, but we have scans of that for you too.

Reese and her movie Sing have received nominations at the Kids Choice Awards! You can vote at vote.nick.com/ or by tweeting on Twitter using the hashtags below (for full hashtags visit the KCA voting hashtag Tumblr page). The ceremony will be held on March 11st 2017.

Glamour Reese Witherspoon is an unofficial fansite dedicated to supporting and promoting the career of Reese Witherspoon. We have no contact with Ms Witherspoon or her family or management. No copyright infringement is intended through the use of content within this website ...